Straight on 'Till Morning
by Miss Ruby Jones
Summary: A collection of one-shots between Captain Hook/Killian and Little Red/Ruby for Captain Wolf week on Tumblr. Rating subject to change throughout the week. Reviews are welcome. Chapter 1 is up. Prompt: Darkness.
1. Make Me Feel

Day 1 of Captain Wolf Week (Feb 3)

Prompt: Daughter | Touch

Summary: Killian Jones and Red are two lost souls just begging to feel something. Can they make each other feel again?

_**Love hunt me down**__**  
><strong>__**I can't stand to be so dead behind the eyes**_

Killian Jones was not known to be a forgiving man. In fact, he was better known for his 300 years of plotting against Rumplestiltskin after his love was ripped from him. Beyond his revenge plot, he could not find anything to live for. He had numbed himself to all the things that could hurt him. No more family or possible loves. Women came and went, but saw nothing more than a room at an inn with him. He had no interest in replacing Milah. He didn't believe anyone ever could. Nobody else could make him feel anymore. Feeling anything but anger, hatred, and the lust for revenge was completely out of his range. There was no love waiting for him anymore because he had lost Milah. So instead of hoping, he was simply numb.

_**And feed me spark me up**__**  
><strong>__**A creature in my blood stream choose me up**_

Red felt the creature beneath her skin, fighting to get out. Rage built up within her, and she couldn't control it anymore. She could feel the wolf ripping through. Tears stained her cheeks as she thought about the damage she could do, what damage she already had done. The men from the kingdom she had killed, the hunting parties, _Peter_ were all gone because of her. She just wanted to be numb. No more wolf, or anger, or pain. Just numb. She couldn't do that because she knew Granny wouldn't let her go down that road. And she knew all too well what happened when people got rid of their pain; the dwarves had explained what happened to Snow. But she didn't feel love the way she wanted to anymore. Even her love for Granny and Snow White was muted, dulled. It hurt too much to think of the idea that she could hurt them. But she had a severe problem not being numb. She just moved through life, hoping she wouldn't hurt anyone else.

_**So I can feel something**__**  
><strong>__**So I can feel something**_

She first laid eyes on the captain on one of her rare outings to the docks. The forest was her usual home, but every so often, she craved the life of her extroversion. She wanted to meet people, see the world, travel, and get away. Start fresh, but that couldn't happen. She was cursed with her wolf side, and damned to wear her hood until she was old and gray. She didn't want to live through her life feeling nothing, so she went out to see at least some of the sailors who came through with their tales of the sea. She would listen, and enjoy, but would deny the offers of adventure to return to her cottage. But there was something different when the captain of the Jolly Roger walked into her usual tavern. He had an air about him that Red couldn't help but pick up on. He seemed happy enough, though his anger was apparent right beneath the surface, but sadness was hidden beneath the layers. She could see it in his eyes. He looked tired, sad, and broken. Red knew that look far too well because she saw it whenever she looked in the mirror. So when he sat near her, commending her beauty, Red couldn't stand to tell him to leave.

_**Give me touch**__**  
><strong>__**'Cause I've been missing it**__**  
><strong>__**I'm dreaming of**__**  
><strong>__**Strangers**__**  
><strong>__**Kissing me in the night**_

Killian Jones spent the evening regaling the red-cloaked woman with his tales from beyond the world she knew. The light in her eyes at his stories reminded him so much of Milah. Milah had had a lust for adventure. She wanted to see the world, and the woman who sat across from him now had the same lust. This new woman reminded him so much of his Milah, and yet they were also so different. Milah wanted to escape her husband, but this red-cloaked woman wasn't looking to escape anything like that. She seemed to want to escape herself. "What's your name, lass?" the pirate asked after hours of telling tales over drinks.

"Everybody calls me Red," the woman replied with a smile and a slight blush gracing her cheeks.

"I'm Hook, captain of the Jolly Roger." He was surprised that after such a long conversation, neither of them had shared their names.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain," she replied with a grin. Red shocked even herself at that moment. She hadn't smiled like that since she had lost Peter. Since she had taken Peter away from herself. Something about Hook brought it out in her.

After talking over drinks well into the night about Killian's adventures, Hook fell back onto old habits. "Come to a room with me, lass?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had surely ruined any possibility of her staying with him any longer.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I must get home."

"Why not find a new home?" he queried. He couldn't explain why he made the vague offer for her to join the crew. The Jolly Roger very rarely took on women, and yet here he was, making the offer.

"Perhaps one day, I'll run away with you," Red mused with a smile, "but today is not that day."

Still, despite her words, she reached up to kiss him. His good hand gripped her hip as he returned her kiss. A glimmer of the love he had once felt passed through him. Little did he know that Red had felt the same thing. Each was reminded of their past loves, but couldn't help noticing the differences. When Milah kissed him, it was almost like she was desperate. That she was afraid to lose him. Red was reminded of her stolen kisses with Peter, who simply loved her for who he thought she was. Hook seemed to sense that there was something about the passionate woman kissing him wasn't quite the same as most, and Red was not expecting anything from Hook.

They pulled apart, and Red smiled at him. "Off to sail the world, Captain?"

He nodded. "And one day, I'll take you with me," he said with a smirk.

When she left, he didn't feel the empty pain that he had felt when Milah was taken from him, but instead the hope of meeting that woman again. Because he felt something for the first time in far too long.

Red was no different. She couldn't wait to see the pirate breeze through with his ship and his crew with more stories of adventure, more kisses, and more feeling than she had felt in far too long. Someone made her feel something.

_**Just so I**__**  
><strong>__**Can feel something**__**  
><strong>__**You steal me away**__**  
><strong>__**With your eyes and with your mouth  
>And just take me back to in your house<strong>__**  
><strong>__**And stare at me with the lights off**_

Their relationship continued on th_e _same way for years. Every time he came to port, she was there at that same tavern. He would tell her the stories she loved to listen to, and they would lose track of time until the early morning hours. She would stay in rapture as he told his tales for hours upon hours, and at the end of the night, there was always a searing kiss and then she would return to wherever she needed to go. Either home to Granny's or the wolf pack, but she wouldn't go with him. But after she gained control of the wolf, and after she killed her mother, she knew she needed to change. She said good bye to Snow, and packed some of her things from Granny's before she heard about the Jolly Roger making port again.

Red couldn't resist. She went back to her usual tavern, but this time, she carried a bag with her. She had the cloak that her Granny had given her. It would keep her from changing as long as she knew when the full moon was. And even if she did change, she had control enough not to hurt anyone.

She sat among the sewer rats in the tavern, waiting for _her_ pirate. And soon enough, he appeared. His eyes were immediately drawn to her, and the same easy smile graced his lips. As they always did, Red listened to his tales and got lost in his stories.

"I have seen some wild things in my time, love," he began when she told him she wanted to tell him something crazy. "There is very little that could surprise me."

Red took in a deep breath. He would be the first person she willingly told about her wolf. When she did tell him, he was shocked for a moment. "Well, my love, I do believe you found one of the few things that would surprise me."

"I just got it under control. I can change without hurting anyone," she said.

Killian gave her a curious look. "Why are you telling me about this, lass? You were closed lipped for a long time," he said.

Red breathed deeply. "Remember the first night we met, and I said one day I might run away with you?" Killian nodded his understanding. "I want you to ask me…"

Killian took in a deep breath. He knew that he had asked at least a hundred times for her to run away with him. After all of their late night conversations, and heady kisses before they separated for months at a time, he wanted nothing more than to ask her again and have her say yes. "Red, will you come away with me?"

Red bit her lip. "Yes."

She's not sure why she ever said no when he pulled her close and kissed her deeply. His lips, his eyes, his everything drew her in like no one else ever had. Not even Peter had enticed her like Hook did now. "Does that mean we can go off to my ship, love?"

"Why yes, yes we can, Captain Hook," she said softly between kisses.

"Killian. Killian Jones, love," he replied quietly.

"Killian," she said as though she was testing how the name felt on her lips. The smile that graced them seemed to mean that she liked it. "Then off we go, Killian."

_**To feel something**__**  
><strong>__**In the night**__**  
><strong>__**When we touch**__**  
><strong>__**In the night**__**  
><strong>__**'Cause I've been lusting it**_

And off they went onto the ship, into his quarters for a night together, to feel something. And, for the first time since Killian remember, he felt love again. Red felt her love return to her through Killian, and together they had finally taken the steps to finding love again. Each hot kiss, each feather light tough, and every breathy moan had reaffirmed their blooming love for each other. The two were coming together, and learning to love again. Night after night, they came back to each other. Not just for lust, but for love.

Red had become part of the crew, and she went out to see the world with her new love. She had the man who had taught her how to be herself again. Killian was learning to love again, and he found his love in the kindred spirit that stood beside him at the helm of his ship with wind in her hair and adventure in her eyes. The two had managed to heal each other's hearts.

"What are you looking at, love?" Killian began one day when he found her gazing at the water over the back of the ship behind the helm. She turned and looked to him, her gentle smile gracing her face.

"Not looking at anything. Simply thinking."

"And what is filling that beautiful head of yours?"

"I love you," she said simply. Killian was taken aback for a moment. He knew very well how he felt about her. He also knew that she had feelings for him, but never had either of them admitted loving the other.

He took her face in his hand, and wrapped his hook around to her back. "I love you, too, Red."

They had found something to feel, and what they felt was love.


	2. Second Star to the Right

**Second Star to the Right**

My very first attempt at a Red Hook pairing, but I think it turned out rather well. This is for Captain Wolf Week on tumblr, and I will probably be adding multiple fanfictions to this story in the form of chapters throughout the week. Remember, reviews make authors extremely happy, and I love to get feedback.

It had been a long time since Red had run her wolf. There was no place to do so on the open ocean. As much as she had feared the wolf, she could control it now. Still, she wouldn't transform anywhere near all the people with whom she now lived. She would keep it within herself, and keep it away from the people who had become her new family.

"Red?" a timid voice asked. She turned away from the edge of the boat, where she had been admiring the full moon above. There stood Smee.

"What can I do for you?" she asked with a slight smile. The crew was always careful around this time. While she didn't shift, Red was always very irritable around the full moon. Every month she got better and better at controlling the anger.

"The captain has requested you," the man said. Red hid her smile behind a short nod. Smee scurried off seconds later to return to the crew.

Red turned back to the sky for a moment. The moon filled the sky with light, blocking the darkness that usually encompassed the ship in the night. She turned again, moving swiftly across the boat and towards the captain's quarters. He was rarely anywhere else except for the helm. Red knocked on the door softly, pulling her cloak around her tightly as a cool breeze blew across the deck.

"Enter," the familiar voice rang from within the room. Red pushed the door open and closed it quickly after entering the room. When the captain saw her, his face spread into an easy smile. "Red," he said softly and stood.

Red moved over to him quickly. She was immediately enveloped in his strong arms. She breathed in his scent of leather and wood and sea salt. He was intoxicating. "How are you feeling this evening, love?" he asked, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Something about this woman allowed him to show a new side of him, one that even Milah never saw. Red had the same taste for adventure, and a will to protect what she cared about. But Red had a habit of not allowing herself to give up on her responsibilities, and the need to viciously protect what she wanted. She was his love.

"I'm a little… off, as always," Red said with a slight sadness. "The darkness has a grip on me, Killian. It always has, and it always will. Whether I change or not, it'll be there."

Killian pulled his love into a passionate kiss, all his feelings for her poured into one kiss. Whenever he kissed her, she lost all her breath. No matter how many times they were together, she never got over the power of their connection. When they parted, Killian pressed his forehead to hers. "Red, you are not dark. Your heart is far from dark, love. We have both found the light again."

Red took his words to heart. They had found the light. Killian, while still haunted, had found his true love. Revenge was still on his mind, but what he was willing to lose for that revenge had changed. He would not risk Red just for the darkness that had plagued his heart for so many years. Red had lost her first love and her mother to the darkness she thought was inside. But she did not will either to die, and she had not killed since she had gained control. Killian had seen her for what she was. Lost. They had both been lost in the darkness, hiding behind it like a shield. But with each other, they had found their solace among the dark.

"I love you, lass. Don't ever doubt that."

"I love you, too," Red cooed softly.

Reaching into one of the pockets of his coat, he pulled out something silver. "I did not call you in here just to speak," Killian said with his signature smirk. "I know you usually have an aversion to silver, but—"

"I only if they're silver arrows, Killian," Red corrected with a smile.

He gave a short laugh at her interruption before he continued. "But, I think that maybe you'll make an exception."

He held up the silver chain with a circular pendant hanging from the center. Set in the silver was a blackened sky. Raised silver came out of the blackness depicting a ship as well as the moon and two stars.

The pendant reminded her of what he had told her once, when she had thought about leaving the Jolly Roger.

_Red looked sadly out into the black of the night. The stars seemed to be out that evening, and she felt as though the darkness was pressing around her, like it had on her heart for so long. Killian walked up beside her at the head of the ship, leaning beside her on the side. "What's on your mind, love?" he asked softly._

_Red sighed. "The darkness. It feels like emptiness. I think I'm starting to miss home," she said sadly. When she looked at him, she saw her sadness mirrored. She knew that he could not stay in one place for too long. Killian belonged to the sea, but he also belonged to her. If she chose to leave the Jolly Roger, she would be welcomed back, but he would not stay with her if she chose the Enchanted Forest. He had to wander. "I miss home so much, but I don't want to have to miss you, too."_

_Killian turned towards her and touched her face with his good hand. He drew her cheek over so she looked in his eyes. "Lass, everyone misses home. Whether you have chosen it or not, this ship can always be your home. If you want to go back to Snow and your gran, then that's what it is. Just remember; simply look at the second star to the right, and straight on 'till morning. That's where I'll be, love. And I will always come for you if that's what you wish from me."_

_A tear streaked down her cheek. "And you'll keep me from the darkness?"_

"_I always will, my love."_

"The second star to the right, and straight on 'till morning," Red mused as she touched the pendant lightly with her fingertips.

"I took the liberty of having it enchanted. Should you choose to leave, just call to me and my matching pendant will glow. I'll know you want me to come for you, and come I shall."

"And you'll keep me from the darkness," she said softly.

"Always."


	3. Into the Woods

The moonlight streamed through the leaves and down to the forest floor. The woodland was silent and cool. The leaves were washed in beautiful moon and starlight. Ruby Lucas both loved and hated this place. She was both free and trapped among them. Without the forest, she was no longer her wolf. With them, she was chained to become the wolf. Still, this was the one place in Storybrooke where she felt at home. Her other homes were lost. She had lost her cabin in the Enchanted Forest, and she had lost the Jolly Roger when she was left by the infamous Captain Hook.

He had left her knowing what was coming. He had known she would be lost to him, lost to everyone, and yet he let it happen. He didn't even give her the chance to decide. She looked down to the pendant that was around her neck, the last trinket she had from him. The necklace had survived the curse, and even stayed with her. Every day for 28 years, she put on the pendant before she went anywhere. She couldn't bear to be parted with it, and she didn't even know why.

She pulled the pendant over her head, holding the trinket in her hands. She gazed at it for a moment, thinking back to when he gave it to her. The beautiful circle of silver with the moon, two stars, and a ship now made her sick. She didn't want to think about what she had lost; what he had given up on.

For the first few days after the curse broke, she didn't mind wearing it. But once she had seen him in the hospital, and he said that she must be real, she lost it. She ran. She ran all the way to her home; the woods.

She clenched the pendant in her hand and prepared to throw it as far as she could. Before her hand flew, strong fingers grasped her wrist. Instinct told her to swing a punch as she turned, and so she did. Her punch was easily knocked away as she came face to face with the one person she couldn't stand to see, and the person she wanted to see more than any other.

Captain Hook. Killian Jones stood before her, his stoic face in sharp contrast to the anger that had pervaded her features. "You don't want to throw that away, love," he said, his voice still soft with love.

"Why not?" she spat in reply. "You did."

Her words cut deep because they were partially true. "I never wanted to give up on you, Red."

"Then why did you?" Ruby asked. Her eyes filled with the sadness of lost love. She looked at the man who held her heart. She wanted it back, but she knew he would have it for as long as she lived. "Why did you leave, Hook?"

Killian turned his eyes downward in shame. He truly had never wanted to leave her. She had taught him how to love again. He thought he would never love anything as much as he had loved Milah, or as much as he loved the sea. But Ruby had changed his mind. Perhaps Milah hadn't been his true love. He had loved her, and she was one of the greatest things to have happened to his life. His years with her had been amazing, but Ruby had blasted them out of the water. She made him want to be better, and she had taught him that he didn't have to be alone for the rest of his life. "I left because I wanted you to have the forest. I saw you gazing at the forest in Neverland longingly, and I never got to give them to you. I wanted you to have what you needed. When I left you in the Enchanted Forest, I had every intention of coming back."

Ruby's eyes narrowed at the pirate. "Then what stopped you? I called for you, just like you told me to."

"I heard, but I was already in Cora's clutches. She wanted to take my heart, and I couldn't lose that. I couldn't lose my feelings for you," he explained.

"But I had to lose my feelings for you! 28 years of not knowing you! I didn't even know I had found love anywhere. I was desperate to feel something, and I didn't know that anyone had ever loved me!" she yelled.

Killian's face darkened as realization struck. He had hurt the one person who mattered to him more than anyone. "I did that to you," he muttered softly.

Ruby sighed heavily. "No, Regina did that to me. You just didn't have the courage to live it with me." She breathed deeply, her eyes cast downward for a moment. "I need to ask you something," she said softly, looking back into his eyes. The eyes the same color of his passion, the sea.

"Ask me anything, Red," Killian replied softly.

"Do you still love me?" Tears were welling in her eyes. He saw the fear in her eyes at what his answer could possibly be. She couldn't take him saying no. It would break her. But she didn't know if she could forgive what he had done if he said yes.

"Of course I love you, Red. I never stopped. I spent that same 28 years trying to get back to you. I never stopped thinking of you," he said after a few moments of weighing his words. "Do you still love me?"

Ruby hid her face behind her hair for a moment. She couldn't decide what words to use. She was at a loss as to how she was feeling. But when she looked back up at him, she still saw the man she had fallen in love with. The man that had given her exactly what she had wanted: adventure, love, and freedom. He was a monster, just like her. He was shaped by what had happened to him that was out of his control. He had lost his first love, and she could see everything that he felt for her in his eyes. "I do. I have since I first met you, and I won't stop now." His fingers released her wrist and touched her cheekbone. "That doesn't mean I've forgiven what you've done to me, or to Belle."

"I will spend as long as it takes to make up for what I've done," he said lovingly. He pulled her face towards him, brushing his lips lightly against hers. His touched turned from soft brushes of his fingertips to his hand buried in her hair at the base of her skull. He couldn't get her close enough, and she couldn't be close enough to him.

Her hands gripped the front of his jacket to keep him pressed against her. The pendant was still clutched in her hand, but she didn't mind. All she knew was that the man she loved had come back. She knew there was a lot for them to get through, more demons that had pervaded their relationship, but she couldn't let him go again. For once, she had him in her element. They had fallen in love at the port, near his sea. She wanted him to fall in love with who she was in the forest, too. He may belong to the sea, and she may belong to the forest, but they belonged to each other.


	4. Sinners

_**Our lives are stories, waiting to be told**____**  
>In search of silver linings, we discovered gold<strong>____**  
>And judgment taught us that our hearts were wrong<strong>____**  
>But they're the ones that we'll look down upon<strong>___

Ruby ran her hands along the carvings that Hook had once made for Baelfire. The true teachings lay beneath a large scratch that was an attempt to wipe out the memories, as Hook at told her. Killian had been too cowardly to tell Baelfire who he was before the young boy found out on his own.

Ruby saw the captain staring over the port side of the ship, his blue eyes gazing out towards Neverland. He had tried so hard for acceptance from Emma, and yet she wanted nothing with him besides a distraction and a tool. He had thought that Emma was his new love, but he was wrong. His love stood near the helm of his ship. His love had gone on an adventure with him for the sake of adventure.

Killian walked over to the beauty aboard his ship. He looked to her gorgeous eyes, drinking in the beauty that lay beneath the surface of them. After she found out about her wolf, she and everyone else told her she would never love again. Not after what she had done.

Still, the pair had proved everyone wrong. They had gotten through the curse, and even their sparky reunion, which involved lots of shouting, yelling, and a well-aimed slap to Killian's cheek. Ruby came along to save Henry, and she wanted nothing more than to get lost on the sea with the man she loved again. They didn't have to be under the thumbs of those who hated and judged them anymore.

He reached his good hand to gently touch his fingertips to her chin. "What are you thinking, love?"

She smiled. "About you."

_**The rules say our emotions don't comply**____**  
>But we'll defy the rules until we die<strong>___

"Killian, you can't be serious. There's no way that's what you feel! You know it, and I know it!" Ruby exclaimed on deck one day.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Why can't I, love? Since when is it impossible for me to still be in love with you? Because your Granny says I can't? No. I need you to listen to me, Ruby… I love you. I am in love with you with all I possess." The pirate chuckled. His blue eyes flashed in a challenge to the vixen he loved so much. "Is the big bad wolf afraid to break the rules? Afraid to be in love?" he challenged.

Ruby bit her lip out of habit as she felt his intense gaze on her. The look she knew so well was swimming in his ocean blue orbs; the look that she loved. And when she looked up at him, there it was. Her breath hitched. "No. I'm not scared to be in love. I'm afraid you'll leave again once I say I love you."

"Will never happen. I'm not leaving you again, I told you." Killian replied.

"Does that mean you're taking me with you, wherever you adventure to next?"

"I can do better than that," he said, disappearing into his quarters before returning with a map. "Pick somewhere, and we'll go. Anywhere." The couple's eyes were alight with mischief and adventure. No more rules for them. They had the Jolly Roger; they had each other; so they had freedom.

_**So let's be sinners to be saints  
>And lets be winners by mistake<br>The world may disapprove  
>But my world is only you<br>And if we're sinners then it feels like heaven to me  
>You showed me feelings I've never felt before<strong>____**  
>We're making enemies, knocking on the devil's door<strong>____**  
>But how can you expect me not to eat,<strong>____**  
>When the forbidden fruit tastes so sweet?<strong>_

Wrapped up in lingering kissed and feather light touches, the two lovers knew they had won against the world. Their chance meeting had changed everything in their lives. Ruby's Granny didn't approve, and, as always, Rumplestiltskin had something to say about Killian being happy. They didn't care. They were immune to all of it, and that's because they loved each other. Everyone thought they would never last, and that it was the worst decision either of them had made. And yet, it never happened. Ruby taught Killian to move on from hatred, after he had failed multiple attempts of revenge, and he had taught her that she didn't belong in a cage.

The banning of one another by the world, and family members, had just made them want each other more. And, sure enough, they didn't give up on each other. They were each other's forbidden fruit, and they couldn't get enough of each other. They spent hours upon hours talking, kissing, and beyond in his quarters. She didn't want to look back anymore.

_**Our hearts are too ruthless to break**____**  
>Lets start fires for heaven's sake<strong>_

He was taken from her, too. She couldn't stand the idea of him not being next to her, and Rumplestiltskin had made it happen. Sure, the man was trying to be better for Belle, but that hadn't stopped him from taking Killian as soon as Belle's back was turned. Ruby wouldn't have any of it.

She tracked down the scent of Killian and the Crocodile through Storybrooke. She didn't know why they had returned here, but plenty of the Enchanted Forest gang had stayed in their new world. She finally tracked down to Mr. Gold's shop. She entered quietly, checking around for any sign of Mr. Gold. When she found none, she went to searching every nook and cranny of the building.

When there was no sign of her pirate, she swore loudly. She would find him if it was the last thing she ever did. _Gold's manor_, she thought. Following memory, she went off to find Mr. Gold's home. She moved around the house and peered through the window to the basement. Leave it to Mr. Gold to pick the most obvious place to keep his captive.

The skinny woman opened the window carefully. "Killian," she called out to him. He looked up at her voice. His smile at her presence was weaker than it usually was. The shackle that held him to the opposite wall must have been stronger than the handcuffs Emma had used so long ago.

"I'm sorry, love. I guess he wanted revenge on me after Belle…"

"Don't you start panicking, Captain. I'm getting you out of here," she said with a grin. "Just tell me where the door is."

The man pointed weakly with his hook. Ruby disappeared for a few minutes. There was a crash before she appeared in the basement. She gripped the shackle in both hands, and pulled with all her wolf strength. The metal cracked and gave way under her relentless force. "What did I tell you?" she asked, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. "Now let's get out of here."

_**So let's be sinners to be saints  
>And lets be winners by mistake<br>The world may disapprove  
>But my world is only you<br>And if we're sinners then it feels like heaven to me  
>And if we're sinners then it feels like heaven to me<strong>_

"Why did you save me?" he asked a day later. Ruby turned to him, her head cocked questioningly. "Why didn't you leave me? Life would have been easier. You were a good woman before I came along."

Ruby chuckled at him, the way he always did with her when she was spouting silliness. "I was a sinner before you found me, and you were a sinner before I found you. I wouldn't leave you behind. You're my world."

"Even after what I did to you?" Killian asked, referring to when he had left her behind during the curse.

"Yes. I told you, I still love you. It's you and me against the world, Killian."

He kissed her with passion, yanking her close to him. "Are you ready to set sail then, my love?"

"Always." They found heaven in each other.


	5. Lost It

_Another prompt from CW week. I'd love to hear what everyone thinks._

Killian Jones sailed the Jolly Roger into the port of Storybrooke. He knew he had managed to get through, so the curse must be broken. But Cora hadn't sailed with him, and, for that, Killian was beyond thankful. He didn't want the Red Queen anywhere near his vessel. The only reason he had aligned with her was because he could keep his memories and get to Storybrooke.

He anchored the Jolly Roger in the harbor and walked out onto the docks. For once, he had replaced his hook with a fake hand. No need to alarm the entire town with who he really was just yet. Many from the Enchanted Forest had never met him, so his face would go unnoticed. He had even managed to find some modern clothes before he reached the town proper.

He had walked into the town expecting the curse to have been broken. But when he walked through the town, listening to the conversations, he couldn't believe what he had heard. The people of the town were talking about some affair between a Mary Margret and a David Nolan, and other superficial things. The few he did recognize did not answer the names Killian knew them by. The woman he had known to be Snow White, who had seen him before in the forest, merely passed him by when someone called for a Mary Margret.

Killian watched her as she walked on. She looked different than she had in the Enchanted Forest, from the few times he had seen her. But she wasn't the one he was looking for. He was looking for a beautiful woman who had once wore a red cloak. From what he had seen of this new realm, no one was wearing the fashions from the Enchanted Forest.

So he looked for the beautiful woman that had haunted his dreams for so long. Outside the town diner, he found the woman he was looking for with her grandmother, complaining about the morning shift. He smiled, happy to walk towards her. She looked different. There was make-up on her face, and her long brown hair was straight and streaked with red. Her clothing consisted of bright red shorts, a white button up tied around her waist, and stiletto heels. Killian couldn't keep his eyes off her, as it was whenever he saw her. That woman had his attention in any crowd. No matter how much of a villain he may have been, Red was his new love.

He watched Red and her grandmother walking into the diner, and slipped inside after them. A blonde woman sat in a booth with a young boy, and a few other people Killian did not know were around the diner. Red was walking around the diner, taking and handing out orders. Killian sat down at the counter, feeling the eyes of the townspeople around him glued to his back.

The woman waiting on everyone looked at him with wide eyes. It was as though she had never seen him before, and wasn't used to any kind of strangers in the diner. Killian felt the stab of heartache. She didn't know him. He could hardly stand it. "I'll be right with you," she called over before she engaged the young boy with the blonde in conversation.

Killian sighed heavily, his good fingers playing with his large rings. He stared down at his hand. Maybe he wouldn't feel so bad if he could just focus on something. Revenge? Sailing? His rings? Anything was better than the blank expression of the woman he loved.

The leggy woman walked back over to the counter, putting in an order before she walked over to the stranger. "Good morning. You look new," she said with a wide smile on her cherry lips. "We don't get many visitors in Storybrooke." Killian looked up from his hand and his eyes were drawn up to her flawless face. "What can I get for you?"

Killian smiled sadly. "Just an ale," he mumbled.

"Ale? It's 8a.m. and beer isn't served until 5p.m.," the woman told him. "Is there something else I can get you?"

"Just a coffee, then, love," he said. His usual pet name for her just slipped right out without him meaning to. He saw his beauty's face flush a deep red before she turned to fill up a coffee mug.

"So," she began when she turned around, sliding the mug in front of the handsome man, "what brings you to Storybrooke?"

"I came looking for someone I lost. She's kind of my guiding star," he said, taking a sip of the black coffee before him. The woman tilted her head questioningly at him. "We got separated while I was away on work, and I was told she moved back here."

She looked at him with a soft smile. "I'm sure you'll find her, um…" Her voice trailed off when she realized she didn't know the man's name.

"Killian, Killian Jones," the pirate said. "And what is your name?"

"Ruby Lucas," she said with a smile. Killian felt a pang of sadness. That was not how he knew her. His identity was lost with hers. Without her, he was exactly what everyone else had ever thought about him. She really was his guiding star. But she looked at him with an empty expression. She didn't know him at all. "So, where are you from, Killian?"

"All over," he said. "I don't tend to stay in one place for very long. I do a lot of sailing for work."

Ruby bit her cherry lip. "Really?" Her eyes were wide with interest. She absolutely adored the idea of adventure, and her green eyes were alight with that. It was still there; the look that had made him fall in love with her to begin with. "I've always wanted to travel. Where was your favorite place?"

Killian thought it over. He had been so many places, but it was only when he traveled with her that it had truly mattered to him. "There was a little island in the middle of the sea, and the woman I lost and I spent days upon days there. We looked for wolves, and the island was small enough to be close to the sea."

"It sounds amazing," Ruby said dreamily.

As soon as the words left her mouth, Killian made a silent vow. He would get her to fall in love with him again. He'd have his guiding star back. There was no way he was going to be the same villain everyone expected him to be. He would find his identity again, and he would help her find herself all over again. He couldn't go on with her not knowing who he was. "It is, lass. It definitely is," he said, eying her longingly. "Maybe one day, you'll see the world."

Ruby grinned. Another customer called her name, and Ruby looked up quickly. "One minute," she called. Looking back down at Killian, she gave him a smooth smile. "Maybe I will," she said with that infectious spark in her eye again.

She walked off to take care of the other customers. Killian's eyes followed her for a short while before he set down the mug, and a few dollars in payment on the counter. He walked out of the diner more determined than ever.

He would get revenge of his Crocodile. Cora had told him who had created the spell, so Killian knew all about Rumplestiltskin's involvement. It was the Crocodile's fault that Killian couldn't have his love. Again.

Killian would get his revenge, and get his love back again. Ruby would remember him. She would remember herself.


End file.
